Yankees Tanaka taken to task in Texas, playoffs plot thickens
The Yankees must be wondering if it was too good to last and what to do with a starting pitching who delivers three successive knockout outings, only to get drubbed in his next start, failing to hold a four-run lead in a Yankees loss.
Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, before last night, had pitched and won his previous three starts decisively, going seven innings and making it all look easy. And when the Yankees built up a four run lead going into the fourth inning, surely Tanaka would be able to hold it, while giving his team much-needed length, saving the bullpen from rescue duties.
Instead, the worse happened as Tanaka couldn’t get anyone out in the fifth inning and Joe Girardi had no choice but to bring on the bullpen, pouring through five relievers who also couldn’t put a finger in the dike.
Going into play today, the Yankees lead in the Wild Card diminishes to a game and a half when coupled with a win by the Minnesota Twins last night.
Any pitcher or player can have a bad day, right? And a few of the Yankees did. Aaron Judge struck out three times and Caleb Smith gave up three runs, retiring no one, and managed to toss only five strikes in twelve tries. Brett Gardner and Starlin Castro went hitless.
But what looks like a team effort in losing a game they should have won still comes straight back to Tanaka’s ineffectiveness in controlling the game for the Yankees.
And if this had happened to Tanaka back in May and June, it would have been noticed, but there would have been no reason to bring out the panic button with the season still young and time to straighten things out. Now though, there is no room for a clunker from any of their starters because you don’t get second or third chances in the playoffs.
Here’s Tanaka only a week ago………
Fittingly though, when you do look back at May and June, you find that Tanaka reeled off five straight wins, only to be followed by five consecutive losses in his next starts. Now, in September with twenty games remaining on the schedule, Tanaka, once again, gives the team pause to wonder, who is this guy?
It’s only about the playoffs
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The Yankees, like all teams in the playoffs, require four starters, unless they choose to push things by abandoning the season long practice of pitching every fifth day. A Sonny Gray and possibly, Luis Severino, would fit into that mold and probably handle it with enthusiasm. But you don’t want to become the poster boy for the New York Mets in 2015 either.
So, Tanaka figures to be in the mix somewhere. And Girardi will need to decide his placement in the rotation, assuming the team can get by whoever they play in the one-game shootout. A healthy CC Sabathia probably means Tankaka picks up the bronze star as the fourth starter with a very short leash.
The Yankees stopped their scoring after building up that 5-1 lead last night, and that can’t happen either in the playoffs.
Tonight, with Severino taking the start, they’ll probably bounce back with a win as they have done so many times before during this magical season.
But looming in the background, the team must know they can’t afford to lose any game they should win, especially in an abbreviated five-game ALDS series. Good teams, especially the ones who make it to the World Series, just don’t do that.
Next: Yankees are in danger of burning Aaron Judge out
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